C-sections are often necessary and inductions are sometimes necessary but choosing these with no medical reason needs to be thought about carefully.

Lindsay

However, I am curious as to where you have read/heard that disposable diapers only take 20 years to break down. No one knows for sure but from everything I’ve read it seems that a good guess would be that it take disposable diapers over 500 years to decompose. This article even goes so far as to say it takes approximately 550 years for them to break down :

http://www.thegreenestdollar.com/2009/05/how-long-our-garbage-lasts/

Oh and I’m surprised your article doesn’t mention co-sleeping or circumcision as parenting choices. Maybe that’s a little too heated to get into

My milk was delayed in comming in. I can remember my last night in the hospital sitting up at 2am crying because I was exausted and frustrated and baby seemed so hungry. Even though he was nursing almost constantly, he had lost more than 10% of his birth weight, which was medically concerning. I was at the point of asking for a bottle because I didn’t know what else to do. Two nurses sat with me that night and helped and encouraged me. They helped me use a supplemental nurser (which I took home and used for a few days until my milk came in) and I wound up not needing to give a bottle. The lactation consultants both spent a lot of time helping me. Without the support of these wonderful nurses, I don’t know if I would have been successful at breastfeeding or if I would have given up.

I was able to room in with my baby which was wonderful because as a brand new mom I did’t want to let him out of my sight. My husband was also able to stay with us the entire time because they have a pull-out bed for the dads to sleep on. Having him there with me and baby was a one-of-a kind bonding experience, which many of my friends did not have at other hospitals. Even baby’s doctor did the daily exam in our room with dad and I present so we could ask questions.

Overall, the enviornment at St. Vincent’s is fantastic and the staff is skilled, caring and supportive. I would recommend this hospital to everyone.

So, is St. Vincent’s really baby-friendly? In my opinion, YES!

I never claimed that you DID know women who have had those risks. But your answer actually supports my point of it’s less common to have risky pregnancies than the media makes it out to be. If you put down the remote and read a book (Gentle Birth Choices, Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth, Birth the Bradley Way, just to name a few), or a watched a documentary (The Business of Being Born), or perhaps looked up some WHO information on the web, you might be better informed. Unfortunately for you, at this point you are just a victim of our country’s focus and trust on the media for all their information.

I’m going to assume that you have a close relative or friend whose life was saved because of a C-section. And that’s amazing. I’m so happy that the doctors were there for her. I’m also going to assume that the complications that lead to the C-section were NOT because of doctor screw-ups and interventions. I’m going to assume they were legitimate medical emergencies. That being said, I’m thrilled that lives were saved. But you’re coming from an emotional point of view. You’re defending a stand-point that doesn’t need to be defended. We KNOW that inductions are sometimes necessary (sometimes being the key word). But they are not always necessary. We KNOW that C-sections can and do save lives. But it is not always necessary to perform them. We KNOW that the risk for complications increases past 40 weeks. But do those risks outweigh the risks that come along with induction, epidural, and C-Section? Our point is that these things occur too often when they are NOT necessary.

Nothing you have said is based on fact or statistics. Yours are emotional arguments that will not pan out against facts and statistics. They are based on your feelings and your own personal experiential opinion. I’m afraid that you will not get a single one of us to agree with your arguments, especially about El. You’re making untrue claims about someone because you don’t agree with her. Not cool. Disagree. Fine. But support it with something solid and substantial, not flimsy and faulty.

Once again, you’re failing to recognize the IMPORTANT nuances of what is stated by El, Krista, and myself. Never once have any of us said induction is NEVER necessary or C-Sections NEVER save lives. Again, I have several friends who LEGITIMATELY needed these interventions, and I’m THRILLED that our country is blessed to have these interventions when they are MEDICALLY NECESSARY. And I’m quite sure that El would claim that the C-section she had for her 2nd son WAS necessary and likely saved her son’s life. What we are against are UNNECESSARY inductions and C-cections. That means “inductions and C-Sections that are unnecessary” NOT “Inductions and C-Sections are unnecessary.” Doctors tend to be risk managers instead of birth supporters. That’s what we have a problem with. When the mother and/or baby are in LEGITIMATE distress, thank God our OBs are trained for that kind of thing. Doctor’s rely too much on their technology in order to control labor which is not an exact science. It is not a normal bodily process that is meant to be controlled, much like when a person dies. The AVERAGE person lives to be about 80-85 years old, but you don’t see people helping them die quicker if they go past that age. In fact, you see people trying to make them live longer. It’s the same thing with pregnancy. You can’t rush it. Baby will comes when baby is ready, just like people will die when it’s their time.

The AVERAGE pregnancy lasts 40 weeks. That means that there are some that go shorter, and some that go LONGER. Pregnancies that last LONGER than 40 weeks are necessary in order to calculate this average. I would bet, however, that if the gestational age at time of birth of 1,000 babies were averaged out, it would be LESS than 40 weeks now because of all of the unnecessary interventions that occur in our country.

“At my last visit at 39 weeks and change, the Wicked Witch expressed concern that I was losing weight (15 pounds by this point) and that we should go ahead and schedule an induction before it has an impact on my son. Of course like any mother would, I freaked out and agreed. I didn’t want to have something happen to him, and in a way, I was happy because I was uncomfortable like EVERY pregnant woman was in the end.
I went in that Tuesday to get induced.”

She states that she freaked out and agreed. Yes she also states that she was happy because she was uncomfortable and worried about her baby because she trusted her doctor. She was a first time mom and misinformed, just like most of the women in our country. But that does NOT mean that she WANTED the induction.

Weightloss could mean that nutrients aren’t getting to your body and hence, not to the baby, meaning an undernourished baby. So induction for weightloss “could” be plausible. Beacons…where oh where did you get your information from? It does not sound like you’ve read ANYTHING at all. It sounds 100% like you are responding out of PURE emotion and experience instead of facts and statistics.

Katie, I don’t know you but it sounds like you really know your stuff! It’s really important to be open-minded and well educated as a parent and I think you’re getting off to a great start! I love your posts too

My sister was only 3 after 9 hours of natural labor and then ROCKETED to 10 in the last 2 hours of labor for her 3rd child. And 4th?! 5 cm after 5 hours of hard labor, and then to 10 cm 3o minutes later! Every woman is different, but I’m sure you know that already.

And I thank God that truly many babies ARE born healthy with these interventions. But not without consequences.

What you’re missing in El’s stories about her births is that in the FIRST birth there were interventions; an unnecessary induction which lead to an epidural, and ultimately a C-Section. Not uncommon. It is VERY common for women who are induced TOO EARLY to not progress? Why we ask? Why are they not progressing!?! We gave them the drugs! We are letting them relax by giving them an epidural! Why isn’t she dilating?! The answer? Because the baby isn’t ready to come out! It’s just not the right time. If the baby isn’t ready, it’s highly possible that the mother will not progress. Which is what happened with El’s first child. Interventions GALORE!

And with her second? There was a biological, physical reason she wasn’t progressing. Baby was stuck and in a distressful situation. This is how her labor progressed naturally. Did it suck? Hell yea! Is she still likely frustrated that she had a C-Section? Most likely! But my guess is she’s VERY grateful that there ARE ob/gyns available that can help in those legitimate emergencies. Otherwise, who knows how poorly her second birth could have turned out.

But is she still going to fight against UNNECESSARY interventions? My guess is hell yea.

Interesting since big babies seem to get mentioned so often…I just found out my friend Misty was told she was DEFINITELY going to have a big baby…8.5 pounds! (but not that big). Her BIG BABY was 5.7 pounds. I have NO idea how she birthed that BIG BABY!? Doctors can be wrong. Very very wrong.

In my experience, the women who are “ok” with the way that their baby came into the world don’t always know that they could have had a different birth. What you often find are women who have accepted the way their child came into the world as opposed to being HAPPY about that. Of course these women are happy that their children are happy. Quite honestly, I’ll be MORE thrilled and relieved that my baby is alive and healthy if I, for whatever reason, have to have interventions with this baby because I’m SO incredibly aware of all the risks. I’ll be thrilled that the doctors didn’t kill my baby or me with all their interventions.

And here’s the thing. I know at least 2 women personally who had labor interventions and had MORE difficulty connecting with the child connected with that labor and birth than they did with their other children who were birthed naturally. Being a parent is difficult enough as it is. Why make it harder on yourself or on the mother? That’s why I initially started checking out natural childbirth…I’m TERRIFIED to be a mom, and I know that I want to do everything in my utmost power to be a good mom, and what I’ve found is that it starts with Pregnancy, labor, and birth. It doesn’t start AFTER the baby is born.

I am NOT saying that babies born with interventions are doomed to an unhappy life as I’m sure Beacons will go there in a minute. Nor am I saying that mommy and baby will NEVER be connected if interventions are used. What I’m saying is, why risk it? Why add to the stressors of being a parent? I’m sure I’m speaking to a brick wall as I type this, but I still feel the need to get it out. I’m not even sure why I bother because I’m sure some ridiculous claim about birth through c-section is completely natural and that monkeys can fly to the North moon will come up. But I’m still going to try. And if the intended audience isn’t reading, I’ll at least have a couple people reading to take a look and nod along in agreement, just as I’ve done with all their posts.

2nd Cesarean
Risk of Hysterectomy : 0.42% (1 in 238)
Risk of Blood Transfusion : 1.53% (1 in 65)
Risk of Placenta Accreta : 0.31% (1 in 325)
Risk of Major Complications : 4.3% (1 in 23)
Risk of Dense Adhesion’s : 21.6% (1 in 5)

3rd Cesarean
Risk of Hysterectomy : 0.9% (1 in 111)
Risk of Blood Transfusion : 2.26% (1 in 44)
Risk of Placenta Accreta : 0.57% (1 in 165)
Risk of Major Complications : 7.5% (1 in 13)
Risk of Dense Adhesion’s : 32.2% (1 in 3)

4th Cesarean
Risk of Hysterectomy : 2.41% (1 in 41)
Risk of Blood Transfusion : 3.65% (1 in 27)
Risk of Placenta Accreta : 2.13% (1 in 47)
Risk of Major Complications : 12.5% (1 in Risk of Dense Adhesion’s : 42.2% (2 in 5)

Ya know what, here are some articles just for kicks. And guess what?? They are even written by an OB (with a real MD) who are concerned about unnecessary intervention (like what is mentioned in Danielle’s article), the rising c-section rate and its risks.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/magazine/20100426_Test_leads_to_needless_C-sections.html#axzz0prCoLk8f

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/health_science/weekly/20100531_Dangerous_delivery_shows_peril_of_multiple_C-sections.html#axzz0prCeIU4b

Oh, and for what it’s worth- women can have slow dilation for a variety of reasons. One reason is the sphincter law- ever tried to go the bathroom with a room full of people watching?? Birth is like that for some, everything shuts down when they perceive danger. Add induction when you’re body isn’t ready, not being allowed to eat or move during the most physically trying moments of your life, and a DR who is impatient and you have yourself a recipe for c-section. You yourself said that you were in labor for 3 days. Danielle was given a tenth of that time. You *wouldn’t* have had a vaginal birth in a hospital today just like many other women today don’t- because Doctors often can’t just wait and stop messing with nature.

I’ve had several friends who have had multiple c-sections and that were told they had big babies or they’re body didn’t dilate, go into labor on their own, etc and that they would always *need* c-sections. All of those women have gone on to have vaginal births (with patient, caring homebirth midwives, of course). If you don’t believe it happens check out this video of a woman who had a vaginal birth after FOUR c-sections. All 4 of her c-section were after inductions where Doctors assumes she couldn’t birth her babies. She proved them wrong the 5th time when she was able to avoid induction and do as nature intended:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUBriTYAgSo

I wish you the best of luck on your HBA2C, Danielle!

Most of the world co-sleeps, we’re the only country repressed enough to put babies in cages.

I think its terribly sad that you come here, Beacon, and pretend to have an educated opinion. You might benefit from reading Green Eggs and Ham, you might learn something.

Yet somehow the birth experience is different. We should allow women to mourn the loss of the birth experience they wanted while celebrating the joy and beauty of the new child.

Though many may assume that co-sleeping means that parents and baby share the same bed, Dr. William Sears stresses that definition is a bit too narrow. Sears, a well-known pediatrician and author of many parenting books, defines co-sleeping as sleeping within arm’s reach of the baby.

There are women EVERYWHERE who didn’t like their experience, vaginal or cesarean.

Prove your statement about a “sids episode”

If everyone was so peachy keen about their births, there wouldn’t be international support groups for mothers like ICAN or Solice for Mothers.

Where have I ever said that I am not happy I have two healthy boys?
Something you are making up?

I think I would know what happened, I mean, I was there… LOL

Yes, Co-sleeping DOES prevent SIDS and it has been well documented!

I know exactly what happened. I stopped dilating, because he was not dropping into the birth canal. He was stuck at a -1 station because of his positioning.
My birth stories are no secret, they are posted on my personal blog, along with a video depicting both journeys.
I am not sure of your point though.

Thankfully with my second child, I switched to a much better provider, a loving midwife who not only spent an awesome amount of time
with me, but stuck with me for my whole duration in the hospital, my entire cesarean delivery, took pictures for us, and spent time with me
every morning before leaving the hospital for the office to see her normal patients.

And I will deliver my third child

Beacons- I don’t know why I even bother responding to you because your logic is so flawed. You JUST stated that you went into labor with your own child ON YOUR OWN (no induction) 12 days past your “due date”. Do you have any idea how difficult that is to accomplish in this day and age? Almost all women who go to an OB are guaranteed that their Doctor will attempt several times to induce them between 40 and 41 weeks. It’s best for their wallet, calendar, and malpractice insurance. And guess what?? Many women’s bodies aren’t ready at that point (you just agreed with that by stating you went to 41weeks 5days). Therefore, the induction leads to a host of other problems for both mother and baby who are not ready for the experience that Docs and pitocin force them into.

It’s is not asinine for a woman to hope that when her child’s delivery is over there is a happy and healthy mom AND baby. It doesn’t have to be one or the other, they aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. And not that I have to justify anything to you but avoiding c-sections IS what is healthier for my children too (not just me). Medical research has shown that c-sections increase the chances of MY CHILDREN having asthma, trouble breastfeeding, nicked with the scalpel during surgery, spending time in the NICU, being stillborn, miscarried, having placenta problems…the list goes on. Not to mention infection, massive blood loss, hysterectomy, infertility, post-partum depression or post-traumatic stress syndrome, and maternal death as a risk to the mother. Certainly a dead or severely depressed mother isn’t healthy for a child either, is it??

As woman we should be working together to make this world a safer, happier, and healthier place for us all instead of tearing each other into shreds.

The take away from this can be summed up with two points: 1. women have been delivering babies since the dawn of time, and our bodies KNOW how to do it. We don’t need drugs, surgery, or doctors tellings us what the body innately knows better than any doctor could ever know. 2. Did you know, Beacons, that the United States has the 2nd HIGHEST infant mortality rate of any industrialized nation in the world? Go look it up, I promise it is true. That being said, I don’t think the system is working that fabulously. The power that MADE the body HEALS the body…AND delivers babies.

Katie- you may be interested in this article: http://www.naturalnews.com/028853_ultrasound_fetus.html

Thanks for the post!

Studies have shown that it is biologically natural for a mother to sleep right next to her baby and that it is also beneficial to the development of a newborn’s nervous system (any skin-to-skin contact is). The cyclical air will help prevent the baby from stopping to breathe and the closeness of the child will more quickly alert the mother (even in her sleep) if something is wrong.

You say over and over again with no rhyme or reason that co-sleeping isn’t safe. Are you trying to convince yourself? Surely no thinking parent would take a fact-less declaration in consideration when deciding whether or not to cosleep.

Safety guidelines have drastically changed, government agencies have been formed to monitor and regulate
baby products, etc.

Elwood: I don’t need to read your links to know that it is dangerous and I know a lot of doctors would say so too.

Rules can make things harder on parents that are just trying to sleep with a newborn. Cosleep and learning to lie down while nursing is sometimes the BEST way for parents to get sleep.

Yes, safety while cosleeping is very important, but again, rules for what you aren’t allowed to do go against instinct. I never coslept unsafely with my daughter, even if some was against the rules. I did what was best for her and for me. Period.

Here’s a pretty good article which details the reasons behind safe cosleeping recommendations:

http://www.naturalchild.org/james_mckenna/biological.html

Most baby sitters are not going to have the same maternal response to an infant, especially newborn. Especially if this baby sitter does not have
any children of their own. I would see a difference if the baby sitter is a close family member, or even Grandparent, but most recommendations exclude
baby sitters or nannies because of this.

Back to sleep is something they recommend because of the SIDS risk. I have never let my children sleep on their stomach until they were able to roll over themselves.

But of course, any parent can do what they please.

When my daughter would have a rough night, we would cosleep on the couch. Same with naps. I knew if she would roll and would always keep my arm hooked around her so I knew if she was breathing or moving and all that.

I coslept even when I was extremely exhausted. When she was sick, or nursed all night, the only way I would get sleep, even if it meant only an hour, was to cosleep. You still wake up, and you might be surprised how much more rested you even if you only get a few minutes.

My babysitters (my parents) coslept with my daughter. They had the same response I did to her.

I’ve coslept with a less than 9 month old and my toddler. You are aware of both of them, and most times can just keep them separate by placing one on either side.

My daughter chose where she wanted to sleep, whether it was just by me or inbetween me and her father. She still loves sleeping inbetween us even though she is now in her own bed. She will snuggle with us until she wants to go to her bed, but touching her father and me at the same time was the only way to get her to sleep for a very long time.

I NEVER placed my baby on her back. EVER. She didn’t sleep, and I didn’t sleep. I either put her on her side or her stomach. She loved sleeping that way, and if/when she spit up she didn’t have to worry about moving in her sleep to take it out of her mouth. It would come out. You wouldn’t put a drunk to sleep on their back in case they get sick, it is the same with the baby. Back to sleep might help, but the majority of children once they roll over refuse to sleep on their backs. Kind of an indication it isn’t comfortable to them.

And lastly, we have a double bed. We coslept for almost three years in that double bed. We will cosleep with our future kids in a double bed. Bedsize really doesn’t matter as long as there is room for everyone.

The rules are great, but it can cause unnecessary stress for cosleeping parents when they are already worried and told it is unsafe.

For me the only rules that I say do not cosleep are if you are under the influence of something or if you have a waterbed. Go with your gut with cosleeping. No one knows your child better than you do, so do what feels comfortable to you. And remember, it can take a few days to get used to cosleeping. It doesn’t just come naturally. It does take work to be able to sleep with a child beside you that wiggles and moves and wakes every few hours.

There are safe ways to co-sleep and I did tons of research before hand to make sure it was a good choice all around. Even today at 3.5 years old, he knows that Mommy is always there for him no matter what time of day…and that is what matters to me.

Thanks for sharing the tips and guidelines!!

We have a bed rail, an excellent, very secure rail from Safety 1st that has anti entrapment features and is a bit of a hassle to install but so, so worth it. We’ve arranged our bedroom, several times, to make cosleeping safer. It has been so worth it for all the snuggles, and waking up together. Now our two and one year olds start off the night in their toddler bed and playpen, and when they wake come in with us. It is a great partial cosleeping solution and is working well for everyone.

I think the key to good family sleep solutions is to be flexible, to be safe, and to remember everything will change with regularity… it’s the one constant, lol!

I have a 2.5 year old and an almost 1 year old. We’ve never owned a crib and co-slept with both boys until they were about 11 months old. We would have kept them in our bed longer, but they were both starting to have trouble sleeping specifically because of our shared space.

Co-sleeping was great for me. I have insufficient glandular tissue and was not able to exclusively breastfeed either child. Because we co-slept, the boys could latch onto me as much as they wanted throughout the night, maximizing the amount of milk I could give them. With my second, I never had to get up out of bed to supplement with the SNS and had enough milk to keep him happy all night long!

It was also an excellent way for me to keep my bond with my babies when I had to return to work when FMLA was up. I got to snuggle with them for about 8 hours every day, even though I was away from them for up to 13 hours at a time.

In addition to the above, I would also recommend that parents keep all comforters and pillows well out of the way.

When my son was born, I was living with my parents, so we shared a room. I was a full-time college student that had a habit of being up until 2 or 3 am to finish homework, he was a breastfeeding infant that had a habit of getting up at 5 am to eat…I’d put him to sleep in his crib, but when he started crying to eat at 5, I’d bring him in my bed, pop a boob in his mouth, and go back to sleep until my alarm went off for school or work.

Even after we stopped breastfeeding, we still shared a room and sometimes my bed, until he was almost 2. That was when my husband and I got our first apartment together. We had two bedrooms, so my son got his own bedroom. He didn’t adjust terribly well and spent about 6 months sleeping in our bed half his nights until he got comfortable sleeping every night in his room. He’s almost 5 now, and he and I frequently nap together still (although he’s growing out of nap time…it makes me kind of sad, I really like these snuggly times!).

When my daughter was born, we were just moved into the house we’re in now, and it was kind of automatic to put her bassinet in our room, this time right up against my side of our bed (with my son, his crib was on the opposite side of the room from me). The bassinet stayed there, but she almost never slept in it – she was always inbetween be and the bassinet (which was tightly flush against the bed on one side and tightly flush against the wall on the other…no way for squirming babies to get caught in there ). Sometimes my son would feel left out, so we’d let him sleep in between my husband and I.

By the time she was a year old, she’d weaned herself from breastfeeding, so we moved the kids together in the same room. She didn’t have as hard a transition out of our room, probably because she had her adoring older brother in the same room as her.

She’s almost 2 and he’s almost 5, but we still have nights that we all sleep together. It’s cozy sometimes Other times I want to hog the bed and blankets lol.

I’d like to add, that I’m overweight…not “extremely” I don’t think, although I guess I don’t know what counts as “extremely overweight” these days, but I’m overweight none the less. I’m also a hardcore belly-sleeper. I discovered that not only was sleeping on my side more conducive to cuddling and breastfeeding, but that I’m a MUCH lighter sleeper on my side. The quality of sleep isn’t less per se, but I was reactive to my kids’ movements. Like anything involving the care of one’s children, a large dose of caution is in order. But if pay attention to your maternal instinct, going with what feels natural can be so much more beneficial for mama and baby.

I’m BARELY in my 3rd trimester and I’ve been told by my caregivers that there’s the possibility that I’m going to have a big baby (fortunately I know more about my body, what I’m eating, and my family’s history than they do). There’s also the possibility that I’m going to sprout wings and fly to the North Pole, but it’s very unlikely. First of all, there’s NO way they could even know this because my baby is still growing and has NEVER measured big in the ultrasounds. Women have also been told they have an inefficient pelvis for the size of their baby and are not even given a chance to try to birth their baby.

I’m well aware that elwood didn’t write it herself. But somebody wrote the study BASED ON TRUE STATISTICS. Statistics which I’ve seen replicated time and time again. My mother works in the NICU in a hospital in DE, and at any given time, several of her babies are there because the doctor’s induced mommy too soon because baby was measuring too large. Oh, and by the way, their main problem was low birth weight. I’m not sure where you get your information from, but it’s about as unreliable as a screen door in a sub-marine.

What??? If a baby isn’t being monitored how will they know if the baby is having breathing problems.

I’m commenting to let you know we read your post. You’re right–the post was entirely inappropriate and should not have been published. Our official statement is here: http://www.facebook.com/notes/better-homes-and-gardens/statement-on-shine-story/397816569478

And our new story, based on tips real moms gave us on our Facebook page is here: http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/dining-out-with-small-children-8-sanity-savers-from-real-moms-1526173/

Again, we are so sorry for posting this and that you were offended.

Best,
Joanna

Joanna Linberg
Assistant Editor
Better Homes and Gardens

Elwood, You have said many times and in many different places that you are a medical professional. I know many people do not agree with you.

It is all in the eyes of the beholder.

http://www.ajog.org/article/S0002-9378(05)00038-4/abstract

There we go!!:-)

Another citation of that study:
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/press/2003/February/030207A.htm

Andddddddd here’s the abstract for the actual study from the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Hope this information has been helpful:-)

What I was saying is that elwood actually cites the information that you brought up as “reasons for a c-section.” I’m just going to re-copy that information for you, in case you can’t find it up top.

~~The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) formally known as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has set guidelines for labor induction, and in some cases their own members are not following these guidelines and suggestions. The six situations that ACOG has identified, and recommended induction for are :

* Ruptured membranes for longer than 12-24 hours. Meaning, if your water has broken, and your labor has not started within 12-24 hours, augmenting of labor may be medically necessary. This does not mean that the baby must be delivered within 12-24 hours of the water breaking!
* You have an increase in your blood pressure caused by the pregnancy, or a condition we know called preeclampsia.
* Your pregnancy is post term, or overdue. This means over 42 weeks gestation. Not because you have met your due date.
* You have other health issues such as diabetes, or gestational diabetes that could have an impact on the health of your baby.
* Your baby is growing too slowly, or may be suffering from a form of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR).
* An infection in the uterus.~~~

ACOG. The people we hold in charge of our uterus’s. They have made these claims for induction, NOT c-section.

Additionally, I’m waiting on my sister to find that article about amniotic fluid and risk to the baby as well. When I find it, I’ll be happy to share it with the whole class.

The purpose of this article is to point out the dangers of UNNECESSARY inductions and UNNECESSARY c-sections. You brought up cases that fall under the “high-risk” category, which is NOT what this article is discussing. She also cites that information with-in the article as MEDICAL REASONS This article that elwood so beautifully wrote is about normal, low-risk pregnancies that have no other problems or complications other than being “post-due”. Our country is of a huge convenience factor and many many women are scheduling inductions and c-sections for convenience and at the suggestion of their doctors (many of whom have NEVER or RARELY seen an normal, natural, un-medicated birth). Elwood’s whole point is to discuss the dangers that accompany rushing the baby out of the womb, not to poo-poo MEDICALLY NECESSARY INTERVENTIONS.

Beacons, C-sections CAN BE emotionally and physically overwhelming and all Danielle is trying to do is provide research and guidance to help women avoid unnecessary surgery. I don’t know what your agenda is but leave her be! I wish I had had someone like that giving me important life-changing information before I consented to my 1st unnecessary induction. I just didn’t know better. Beacons, until you’ve been in the shoes of someone like myself who has had 2 truly awful birth experiences please don’t judge us for trying to improve the environment we live in and attempting to empower our fellow women. I wouldn’t wish the depression and nightmares my c-sections have caused on anyone and if a little education can prevent that then more power to those who provide it!

PS beacons, how is this misinformation? I saw nothing non-factual in there. It fits with EVERYTHING that I have read myself.

I found this article thanks to your births journey video. It was so beautiful. I echo all of your feelings and only wish I had the strength to face the birth of my sons (very similar to your stories) in the way you have yours.

By the way, I wouldn’t even bother responding to any ignorant comments you receive. The audience you are trying to reach will get your message and the others who choose to be blind to scientific research and facts can live with their own choice.

Oh, and if you have more info. on not inducing *just* for low amniotic fluid, could you e-mail it to me? The DRs tried inducing me with my last son for that reason and I knew they were trying to bully me and it was an inaccurate crock of crap!! Thanks!

I feel fortunate to have had my first child in 2004 at Women and Infants Hospital in Providence, RI. The staff were genuinely courteous, attentive, and compassionate.

Homebirth is definitely an option I am considering with my second child, as my first birth went relatively smoothly. This article has been truly an eye opener for me and am looking forward to speaking with Nancy in the near future.

You have outstayed your welcome PJ

I have never once said that I am not happy my sons are healthy. Who would wish their children were sick? That is just nonsense.
Unfortunately for people like you, unless you have been through a negative birth experience, you cannot understand the mindset
of what some women have gone through, which is why there are international organizations, and support groups dedicated to this.
It has nothing to do with their health of their children, or even the idiotic assumption that these women would much rather have
dead babies. Your assumption is nothing short of ignorant and foolish.

For many women how a baby is born does matter. Many world known physicians agree with this, especially world famous, Michael Odent.
But again, it seems as though when your comment is not met with a reply you see fit, you go off on some personal attack type tangent which
has nothing to do with this specific post, like previously.

If you cannot stay on topic from here on out, I am going to have to go ahead and ban any future commenting from your IP address.

I’m sorry, I’m rambling…I’m just kind of stunned right now. And feeling stupid for consenting to something I knew nothing about.

Women die from having cytotec. And the women dying from uterine rupture have never had a cesarean, because they took cytotec for induction!

This medication shouldn’t be used on pregnant women. Period. Even if it is an abortion you are having, or a miscarriage that isn’t leaving the body.

Women die. And when our country is said to be the safest in the world for everyone, then listen to the research and studies, and stop using this awful medication for things other than ulcers.

Great post again!

Even with VBAC, the risk of Uterine Rupture is 0.6%

Cytotec causes uterine rupture in women with NO risk factors. NO previous cesarean, NO high risk conditions… Healthy every day pregnant women, which is WHY it shouldn’t be used, and WHY it is NOT FDA approved for labor induction, which is the point of this post.

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If having several babies makes you an expert on birth, then having my 9 babies would make me an expert I suppose. Of course, it doesn’t. For each of my deliveries were different. 7 were born at home, my first in the hospital with a midwife and my 8th was planned for the home, but we transferred due to early bleeding and midwife not there yet.
My midwife has delivered over 4,000 babies…more than several have been twins. Her transfer rate is extremely low, though she does not take on certain patients for risk reasons and that is bound to lower the rate of complications,etc.
She will tell you that a lot if what is taught to doctors and told to women about birth and the necessity for this or that intervention is malarky…and most of it is.
Many of those…”my baby (or I) would have died stories” would never have been told had the doctors not intervened in the first place. Of course,most of these women will not know that and continue to claim medicine saved their baby. I definitely know some that I could easily claim that I could have died several times had it not been for the training of my midwife. It would not have been different in the hospital. (Note: My midwife has medical supplies and is not a lay or direct entry midwife. I don’t know if a DEM has prescription medicine available.I don’t think so though.)

That is not to say that modern medicine is not leaps and bounds over what it used to be when there actually IS a need for medical help.

Many women are having babies today that would not have been able to only 40 years ago (such as those with endometriosis, epilespy or certain types of muscular diseases, stature issues,etc. This does make for a lot more truly risky births then there were.

I don’t think anyone wants to throw the baby out with the bath water. I think the issue is more that doctors are not trained these days to think about the natural birth process, but to consider all the things that can go wrong. There is a good side to that…and a very negative effect on those that do not need medical attention.

Unfortunately another trend my doctor friends are seeing is that young women are asking to plan a C-section so that they “don’t have to go through labor”. It is a crying shame that doctors are actually doing just that! It is a crime!

I could go on and on….so much for my “little” comment…

I need to blog about these issues on my blog…ahh so little time with 9 kiddos!:)

Absolutely need education…It will be the difference!

Please let me know how I may help you all educate others!

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“Shifting to less than none day per week’s worth of calories from red meat and dairy products to chiken, fish, eggs, vegetable-based diet achieves more greenhouse-gas reduction than buying all locally sourced food” – Superfreakonomics

When I was pregnant with my second daughter, I said I didn’t care what gender baby was as long as he/she was healthy. I learned so much from her birth and am still learning each and every day as we work with speech and other various issues due to her cleft. In regard to her cleft though, I was amazed at how accepting everyone around us was of her despite the issues she faced. And when I was hospitalized, my dad re-assured me that anyone in my situation would have reacted the same way. That comment helped me more than he will ever know.

A large part of why I support Postpartum women stems from my own experience of being let down by the medical community and those around me. I know it wasn’t intentional and that it was just due to a lack of knowledge and awareness. But I’ll be damned if I let another mother struggle through the hell I did without a guide.

But now I have to dive in headfirst.

I am a mother of three. I had pitocin shoved at me with my first birth with a non-working epidural on board. Wanna talk about hell? I was there. I gave birth vaginally after 8 hours of involuntary pushing due to the Pit to an 8lb 3oz baby girl.

My second labor was 42 hours from beginning to end, no pain meds until 26 hours. The pain meds made me vomit but allowed me to get rest. I delivered the following day at 2pm, again, vaginally to a 6lb 3oz baby girl who was 3.5 weeks early and born with a cleft palate we were completely unaware of prior to delivery. Can we say primed for PTSD?

My third labor was induced as I was measuring 2wks ahead and an amnio proved lung maturity before a shadow of a doubt. I was also in a tremendous amount of pain because of severe pelvic misalignment issues, something I experienced with each pregnancy. Baby was 8lbs 13oz. No postpartum this time around but I spent more time prepping for recovery for ME than for arrival of baby. Plus I had been doing advocacy support work with women with Postpartum Depression for nearly a year by the time he was born.

I experienced Postpartum Obsessive Compulsive Disorder with both my first and second children. How many women have this after birth? 3-5% according to statistics. PTSD isn’t all that common either. More women will end up experiencing Baby Blues (up to 80%, actually) as a result of hormones balancing out after giving birth. 10-15% of new mothers will develop a form of Postpartum Mood Disorder. Even moms who give birth at home, unassisted are still at risk. Researchers work every day to get closer to why some women experience this and why others don’t.

Certainly trauma may be a factor for some (I just asked about birth stories and PPD over at my blog yesterday) but for others it hits them out of the “blue” if you will. There are so many other risk factors beyond how the birth went that feed into the possibility of developing a Postpartum Mood Disorder.

All of that said, mothers should be encouraged to discuss their birth stories, regardless of what they involve. Regardless of how her child arrived, a MOTHER is still a MOTHER.

Bottom line, many mothers do not understand the risk of a c-section because they are simply not educated about them. Yes, in certain emergency situations they are warranted but most of the time they are elective. But given the opportunity to be educated about them, many women at a Staten Island Hospital are electing to go with a vaginal delivery: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/nyregion/20bigcity.html
If only all hospitals had a doctor willing to talk women out of major surgery.

So there you have it. Three vaginal deliveries and I still had a postpartum mood disorder. And my docs the second time around tried to schedule me for an induction halfway through because of the size of my first child. I didn’t go for it that time because the reasoning was completely unwarranted. The third time around I was physically incapable of caring for my two children because of the intense pain relating to my pelvic misalignment. I needed to deliver. I was not TOLD to deliver.

There are choices in childbirth and women certainly need to a) advocate for themselves, b) educate themselves and c) not be ashamed of the choices they made. And last but not least, they should absolutely not be judged for said choices.

You can also check http://thefeministbreeder.com who suffered from PTSD after the cesarean birth of her first child.
You can again, feel free to go to blog.ican-online.org to read the birth stories being posted all this month, some which include tales of PTSD post cesarean births.

Just because you say, or think it does not happen, doesn’t mean that it is not happening.

I have never personally seen a case of maternal mortality, but it does not mean that it does not exist. That line of thinking is simply silly.

As for many women having PTSD after giving birth, SOME may have it but to say many women have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is overboard because that is not the truth. Studies show women who have cesarean deliveries are more likely to suffer from a form of PTSD or PPD over women who give birth vaginally because of the lack of hormones released with a surgical delivery as opposed to a vagina delivery. If you have an issue with that, you can take that up with the researchers.

Just because the circle of women you know never had any issues, or any unnecessary surgery, doesn’t mean it isn’t happening all over the country.

Again like I previously mentioned, you can read the Deadly Delivery Report that Amnesty International put out in March : http://www.amnestyusa.org/demand-dignity/maternal-health-is-a-human-right/the-united-states/page.do?id=1351091

Here is a link for a woman killed by a cesarean in 2007, and the outcome of the lawsuit her husband filed against the negligent Doctors who performed her surgery. http://www.newyorkinjurynews.com/2010/04/08/new-york-hospital-and-doctors-ordered-to-pay-52-million-for-c-section-death_201004083114.html

And, anon, your wording? It’s a huge part of the problem. You blame the BABY for being too big and the MOTHER for having a small pelvis. You blame the MOTHER for not dilating. MOTHER not progressing.

Stop blaming a woman’s body. They know how to birth just fine – they just need to be allowed to do it. All that money and time and effort put into our medical industry is just hindering women. Drs want to make birth net the most income. So, they make it “efficient.” This is not okay.

(sorry, got side tracked, but I can’t STAND when people blame women’s bodies for their C-sections… it’s something a doctor would do)

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A 9lb baby has about the same amount of risks as an eight-pounder The risk factor does not increase substantially until 9lbs15oz. Even then, there are still other factors in regards to what makes a baby “too big” including the dimension of the true pelvis.

Most women – if able to stand up and use gravity can deliver “big” babies just fine. Actually, the WORST thing a mom with a “big” baby can do is lie on her back (it works against gravity and actually makes the pelvis smaller). Try telling that to a doctor.

So – a “big baby” ? Not a reason for a C-section. USUALLY C-sections are given for “failure to progress.” Failure to progress is caused by epidurals and time lines. Doctors artificially break the membranes – putting moms on a clock – instead of letting the membranes rupture on their own.

If the mom isnt dilating, what the hospital SHOULD do is send her home. However, in MOST failure to progress cases, they are the cause of an induction. Or mom is given an epidural (which notoriously slow down labor). If the hospital didn’t meddle in the first place with when a woman should go into labor, than they wouldn’t CAUSE her not to progress.

I just read how triplets were delivered vaginally. I’ve known cases where twins were born at home. Not always a reason for a C-section.

More than half of the US’s C-sections are SCHEDULED repeat Cesareans.

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